Brutal early career advice given to Lady Gaga

TO PLAY shy aspiring singer Ally in A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga channelled her own experiences - some more painful than others.

"I was told when I was first starting out that I should get a nose job, but I didn't because I wanted to be who I was," the pop icon, 32, told Sky News at the film's London premiere.

Continued Gaga, "I really believed in myself when I started out pounding on doors to break down all of the barriers in the music industry, I really had courage … [Ally] doesn't have that, she's not brave and she's not full of self-confidence."

In the much-viewed trailer for A Star Is Born, Gaga's character makes her physical insecurities plenty clear. "Almost every single person has told me they like the way I sounded but they didn't like the way I look," Ally confesses to Jackson Maine (played by Bradley Cooper) in the clip.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in a scene from A Star is Born. Credit: Neal Preston/Warner Bros. via AP

Despite the Poker Face singer's own self-assured nature, she concluded, reflecting on such hurtful feedback for her role "was a vulnerable experience."

"I was able to take all the pain, all of the despair, all of the memories of betrayal or let-downs I've gone through, and put it somewhere where it could help people," Gaga told news.com.au. "This movie has changed my life. Now I feel like the pain was not for nothing. If I can help make one person feel stronger or feel understood, it's worth it."

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission.